The newly created Fast Casual Index will help determine the Top 100 rankings. Nominations are open now, close Feb. 3
There are few things I love more about my job than creating the Fast Casual Top 100 report and hosting the awards gala in May in Chicago, where rankings are revealed.
As the industry grows, however, it continues to be a challenge for judges to choose the 75 brands that make up the Top 100. (The Top 25 executives have always rounded out the list to get us to 100.)
We’ve always relied on a self-nomination process, followed by judges ranking brands based on their perceptions of sales, growth, use of technology, media attention, customer engagement and leadership of the industry.
Since humans are so heavily involved, it’s not a perfect system, but we’ve never wanted to rely solely on sales because only the huge chains would make the list. We’ve avoided taking that route since the Top 100 recognizes the nimbleness, creativity and innovation of the industry, which is frequently displayed by smaller brands.
It was quite the conundrum and one that we finally solved by developing the Fast Casual Index, which goes live on Jan. 20.
Introducing the Fast Casual Index
Developed in partnership with Anand Tumuluru and his team at Loop, the index will go live on FastCasual.com on Jan. 20, tracking data for each brand nominating itself for the Top 100 in the following categories:
- Menu pricing, style & length.
- Location extent and growth.
- Reputation and customer sentiment
- Sales volume & growth.
- Social media presence.
- Google/Apple listing performance
Once we receive a brand’s nomination, Loop will add the info to the index and judges will eventually use the data to help them narrow down winners. We’ll add more brands as they send in their data. Click here to nominate your brand for the Top 100 and to be included in the Fast Casual Index.
How it works
Readers may search by brand and review the data. Note: The index is not a complete ranking of the Top 100. There will be hundreds of brands listed, but the data will be used to more objectively select winners. The objectivity and comprehensiveness of the index will power more recognition and inspire others with what’s possible through the numbers.
“The fast casual dinner is a celebration of the most innovative and fastest-growing restaurant segment that’s going through rapid change,” Tumuluru said. “In 2025, we will have arrived at times where there is vast amounts of data about brands and through AI we can unlock deep insights at scale. The goal for this collaboration is to enable the perfect blend of the subjective and objective.”
The index as an objective measurement provides a highly dimensional view of each brand’s performance by the numbers.
“Picking the Top 100 is tough, but we want to make it a tad bit easier through segmentation and enabling data-based guardrails, selection and filters,” Tumuluru said. “Ultimately, each brand’s story is unique and this will enable the panel of judges to pay closer attention and subjectively look at the brand’s highlights to ultimately come up with the ranking. At least, until we have a fully sentient AI that will also give us the rankings!”
Adding 25 brands
We are making one other change to this year’s Top 100. Instead of honoring only 75 brands and 25 executives, we will choose 100 brands and 25 executives.
The increased recognition is timely given the growth of the overall industry, which is already at $85 billion and expected to hit 150 billion over the next five years.
“The proof is in the pudding; there are many brands showing consistency in customer satisfaction by innovating customer experience and menus,” Tumuluru said. ” This is an extremely data-driven industry, and it was a no-brainer for us to incorporate data deeply into rankings.”
Nominations are now open
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| Big Chicken took top honors at the 2024 Fast Casual Top 100 gala in May in Chicago. Photo: Willie Lawless |
Nominate your brand here. Nominations close Feb. 3.
Winners will be notified by midarch and receive two free tickets to attend the Fast Casual Top 100 Gala, May 18 at the Radisson Blu Aqua in Chicago.
Extra tickets may be purchased on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Download the 2024 Fast Casual Top 100 here.
